Jet dyeing apparatus such as shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,978,291 and 3,780,544 have heretofore been utilized extensively and generally successfully in the dyeing or wet processing of textile fabric in endless rope form. "Jet" processing typically involves circulation of a rope of textile material through a dye bath under the influence of a rapidly moving jetted portion of a liquid dye bath which impinges upon and strikes the rope at an angle of some 45.degree. or greater. The jet influence of the dye liquor speeding up as it passes through a reduced size passageway aids in moving the rope of material through the dyeing apparatus while also effecting sharp penetration of the dye liquor through the fabric.
Although a forceful dye liquor jetting action is desired for fabric movement and dye penetration, it can produce very undesirable results in the treatment of the more modern lightweight and delicate fabrics. All too often treatment of these newer fabrics in jet dyeing apparatus results in the fabric being abraded and damaged and in the rope of fabric being tangled and twisted to the point of requiring premature shutdown and dismantling of the dyeing apparatus to clear the stalled rope of fabric. Attempts have been previously made at solving the problems presented in handling lightweight fabrics, such as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,114,407, wherein there is substantially little, if any, impingement of the rope of fabric by the jetted dye bath and wherein the dyeing tube is downwardly inclined, but not until the present invention have any been truly successful. These problems are more particularly discussed below in association with the description of the illustrated embodiments.